Thursday, November 5, 2009

Wisconsin's Supreme Court Hears Case Challenging State's Marriage Equalty Ban

William McConkey is my hero.

As I reported earlier, he is fighting on behalf of his lesbian daugther Wisconsin's same-sex marriage ban enacted by voters at a referendum in 2006. He claims that the question on the ballot was unconstitutional because it in fact asked two questions, thus making it impossible to determine the will of Wisconsin voters.

The referendum stated, “Shall section 13 of article XIII of the constitution be created to provide that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state and that a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state?”

The state's Supreme Court heard the case Tuesday. (Watch the proceedings here)



In other Wisconsin news, the Supreme Court threw out the case by anti-LGBT group Wisconsin Family Action challenging the new domestic partnership law. They claim that it's too close to marriage which violates the same-sex marriage ban. Making matters worse, Wisconsin's attorney general had refused to defend the law.

The court gave no reason for the rejection of the case, signaling to Wisconsin Family Action that they must refile in lower courts and go through proper court procedure. So the fight isn't over.

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